The Unemployable Cat

This is the kind of thing that goes on under Baroness Vannett’s back porch all the time, in my Bell Mountain books. Wait’ll this cat tries to get a job at any farm. “You play with the rats? Get lost!”

But I’ve had rats as pets, and mine were wonderful–affectionate, fun-loving, and smart (even if they were a little hard on each other). People who muttered “Yeeeew!” when I brought one of my rats into the vet’s waiting room wound up petting and talking baby-talk to it.

And I did have a cat named Henry who peacefully sniffed at my pet mice and never tried to knock the lid off their aquarium. But I think that was because what he really wanted was my baby fence lizards. Oh, he wanted them so badly! But he didn’t get ’em.

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About leeduigon

I have lived in Metuchen, NJ, all my life. I have been married to my wife Patricia since 1977. I am a former newspaper editor and reporter. I was also the owner-operator of my own small business for several years. I wrote various novels and short stories published during 1980s and 1990s. I am a long-time student of judo and Japanese swordsmanship (kenjutsu). I also play chess, basketball, and military and sports simulations.
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7 responses to “The Unemployable Cat”

This is absolutely too cute! It reminds me of my granddaughter’s hamster, Topki, and my daughter’s collie, Mollie (yep, Mollie the collie lol). Topki got loose in the house and we couldn’t find her for a few days – that is until we told Mollie to go find her baby. Within seconds, Mollie brought Topki out to the middle of the room and began to give her a ‘bath’, happily licking her 🙂

That was really cute. The rats seemed quite fascinated with the cat and the cat was surprisingly affectionate. Animals are smart, and the cat knew that the pet rats weren’t to be harmed. Joe Collidge and his ilk would tell you otherwise, but they’d be wrong, which is often the case.